LIAA - Innovative Ideas for Sustainable Communities Since 1993

Be sure to listen to Episode 4 of LIAA’s "Welcome To" podcast! This episode’s guest is Coleman Yoakum, Executive Director of Micah 6 Community, a non-profit located in Pontiac, Michigan. Coleman and his team have spent the last decade working with their neighbors to rekindle a sense of community in one of Michigan's hardest hit cities. The story of Micah 6 Community is one example of the difficulties that once-thriving places in the Midwest have had to overcome and the amount of willpower it will take to revitalize both the economy and the social fabric in their neighborhoods. More importantly, this story shows that revitalization is possible.

To learn more about Micah 6 Community visit: https://www.micah6community.com/

Follow "Welcome To" on the Stitcher App, Spotify or iTunes to stream episodes. 

LIAA is working with the City of Petoskey to frame its Master Plan to create a “Livable Petoskey.” Similar to work that has been done in Ann Arbor, LIAA is creating a Sustainability Framework for the City to help guide its master planning process and plan categories. Residents were asked at two recent pop-up events what makes Petoskey a sustainable and livable place, and what could be improved upon in the future. Interested parties can follow the Livable Petoskey project at livablepetoskey.org.

LIAA has completed a minor version update for Community Center. Among some bug fixes and Site Manager interface option changes, this update includes:

• Standard Database records can now generate Calendar events, so a Meetings Database, for example, can automatically add (and delete) events corresponding to each meeting on a Calendar Component.
• Emails from the Form Component can now be delivered to multiple email addresses from a form question (only one was possible before) and it is now possible to specify a Reply To address (fixed or from a Form element) so that you can just hit reply to an email from the Form Component and have it sent to the correct address (prior to this update you had to use an email address in the body of the email).
• News Articles can now have attached documents.
• The Slideshow Component now has more options for responsive websites, including the enhanced ability to have thumbnail grids serve as navigation elements. See the images toward the bottom of the Great Lakes Fisheries Heritage Trail home page for an example of thumbnail grids as navigation.
• The Location Map Component now supports Google Static Maps (to reduce Google Maps fees). GeoJSON overlays can now be added to Location Maps (GeoJSON is a text-based format for storing geographic data). And, map view editing now has options that are up-to-date with current Google Maps .
• Picking dates is now more robust when editing News Articles, Forms and Calendar Events.
• Community Center’s Messaging Component now works on responsive websites. The Messaging Component allows communities on a Community Center website to talk with one another without having to share email addresses.

LIAA support applies Community Center updates as needed if your website is experiencing problems or you need new features. If any of these changes sound interesting or you have any questions or suggestions, please contact LIAA Support at support@liaa.org.

Episode 3 of LIAA’s "Welcome To" podcast features Dr. Noah Durst from Michigan State University’s School of Planning, Design & Construction. Dr. Durst is one of a very small number of researchers seeking to quantify and understand the informal housing market in the U.S. Informal housing refers to the methods that families who are priced out of the formal housing market use to acquire shelter. For more information on Dr. Durst’s research visit https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/noah-durst and go to liaa.org/podcast to listen this and past episodes. “Welcome To” can now be streamed on Spotify, iTunes or however you listen to your podcasts. Stay tuned for Episode 4, featuring Coleman Yoakum, a community leader who has dedicated his life to improving a City of Pontiac neighborhood.

LIAA and its coastal resilience partners at the University of Michigan and Michigan Tech University are working with the Village of Port Austin and Port Austin Township to update their Master Plans. These plans will act as a blueprint for the community for the next 10-20 years and will address issues such as coastal resilience, the local economy, recreation and transportation. The ultimate goal is to make Port Austin a more sustainable place for its residents to live, work and play. Update to the Master Plan process can be followed at resilientmichigan.org/portaustin.